Epiphany
by saku642734
Summary: Hermione and Ron having a discussion about their relationship and coming to a few realizations. (Written for Round 8 of the Quidditch League fanfiction Competition season 6)


**This story is based on Harry Potter written by J.K. Rowling**

 **A/N: this is being written for the quidditch league fanfiction Competition season 6**

 **Round 8- The Korean Wave**

 **Beater 1- K-drama - Temperature of Love. Theme - unexpectedly meeting someone you had been in love with later on in life despite having had to part ways with them before.**

 **Prompts-** **3\. (dialogue) "And then I wondered… why do they need fixing? Everyone and everything is broken in some way anyway."**

 **12\. (dialogue) "I believe you. But I believe everybody else too."**

 **Normal text- present**

 **Italics- past**

* * *

Hermione is standing in front of the display window to Flourish and Blotts when she sees movement out of the corner of her eye. Shifting her gaze to her reflection she spots him standing a few feet behind her.

"Hermione?" he asks, voice filled with confusion and apprehension. "What are you doing here?"

She raises a brow, still looking at his reflection. "Hello Ron, I'm running errands." Deciding to let the 'obvious' at the end remain silent.

Ron grimaces. "Right, stupid question, sorry." He ruffles his hair nervously. "I just haven't seen you around in a long time. Thought you might have moved."

"No I haven't." Hermione shifts her gaze back to the display in the window, cutting off the conversation.

After a few moments of them standing around awkwardly, Hermione sighs and finally turns around. "What is it Ronald."

Even though it's more of a statement, he answers anyway, "Well, you know, last time I saw you it didn't end well for either of us, and I'm still really confused." Ron gestures down the street. "Can we just go to Hog's Head and talk about this?"

Hermione crosses her arms in front of her and gives a resigned sigh. "Alright, let's go."

With a sizeable distance between them, they start walking towards the privacy of Hog's Head.

* * *

They sit there in silence for awhile, just staring into their Butterbeer.

Hermione finally leans back in her seat and asks, "What did you want to talk about?"

After a pause, Ron sighs, and decides to speak, "I just… need to ask you about what happened?" He slides his glass between his hands to keep them busy. "I know we broke up, I got that much, but I'm so confused. Why did we break up? After I wasn't so angry I was going to ask but I never saw you anywhere, and after awhile I was just confused."

For a moment Hermione just sits there and processes. "I think that's the most I've ever heard you talk about your feelings."

Ron just sits there, for once, silent.

Hermione sighs in resignation. "I'm not surprised you're confused, I never made it very clear." a small, sad smile forms on her face. "It wasn't even about anything important."

* * *

 _Hermione brushes the soot off of her robes from exiting the floo. "I'm home." A glance around reveals a few scattered food wrappers and some old socks that haven't been washed yet._

 _Aggravated, Hermione storms into the kitchen. "Honestly Ron, you would think that with magic cleaning wouldn't be so hard. Why is the living room so dirty?"_

 _Ron takes his concentration away from making his sandwich. "I'll clean it later, there's no need to stress over it."_

 _"If you had just spent two seconds of effort this wouldn't be an issue."_

 _Ron turns towards her fully. "Really Hermione, you're making a big deal out of nothing, I said I'd clean it later and I will."_

 _She crosses her arms in front of her. "Nothing? Excuse me for enjoying a clean home as a welcome instead of your damn socks."_

 _Ron shakes his head and returns to his sandwich. "This is ridiculous, I'm done with this argument."_

 _Hermione stiffens. "Oh you're done are you? Fine, I'm done with this too, this whole ridiculous relationship."_

 _Ron slams the top piece of bread onto his sandwich. "Fine."_

 _Hermione storms back out of the kitchen. After a few minutes of packing everything into trunks, she's out the door Faster than Ron can finish his sandwich._

* * *

Ron shakes his head. "I don't get it."

Hermione looks down at her Butterbeer as she fiddles with it. "Before that argument, I had been thinking about our relationship a lot. What I did and didn't like about it." She glances up at him. "What our friends told us."

"Look our friends meant well, but they didn't see us all the time." Ron interrupts swiftly. "It was based on what they saw."

Hermione lifts up a hand and Ron falters. "Look Ron." She sets her hand down. "I believe you. But I believe everybody else too." She looks back down at her drink. "And that's the problem, I agreed with every one of their concerns. All the things I didn't like, the anger, frustration, and the arguments over shadowed all of the good. Our friends saw it when we were with them, and it didn't go away when we went home."

Ron moves to interrupt again but is stopped by a look from her. Hermione continues, "I never consciously made the decision to leave. I mostly thought about what we could change to make it better." She tugs a hand through her hair. "The more I thought about it, the more things I came up with, the more problems I needed to fix."

Hermione leans back in her seat with a sigh. "And then I wondered… why do they need fixing? Everyone and everything is broken in some way anyway."

Ron is finally able to interject when she pauses, "But there's nothing wrong with that, Making changes so that the person you love is happy. If we had talked about this I'm sure we could have worked it out."

Hermione gives a tired sigh. "That's just it Ron, it's fine for a few small things." She stares imploringly hoping for him to understand. "There are so many things that needed to change. our entire relationship would revolve around changing each other."

Starting to lose her composure, Hermione quickens her explanation, "You shouldn't have to do that. To change so much that you alter the core of your very being for someone else." she pauses to recompose herself. "You should accept others and be accepted for who you are, all of the good and the bad. Or at least as close to that as possible."

Her shoulders deflate as if a huge weight has been lifted. "I left because I knew we would never be close to that. We would be miserable if we tried."

Ron sits back, just trying to process and accept everything he has heard. "I guess I understand? Not a whole lot, but yea, I get what you're saying." His brow scrunches together in thought. "But that doesn't explain why I haven't seen you until now."

Hermione finally lets out a quiet giggle. "Honestly Ron, that doesn't happen in a place as small as Wizarding Britain on accident. I was avoiding you."

"What?" Ron almost shouts, genuinely baffled.

His goofy expression if enough to send Hermione into a giggle fit. The tension surrounding them starts to fade away.

Once everything settles down Ron smiles sadly. "Do you think we could be friends again?"

Hermione gives it some thought. "Someday, but not anytime soon, I still need to deal with some things." Her small smile turns into a smirk. "Besides, after that argument, I still want to punch you in the face. You and your damn socks."

With a giggle, Hermione leaves a few Gallons on the table and walks out, leaving Ron to his thoughts.

Nothing's really fixed between them, and it will be a long time before they bring back some normalcy. But it's a start, and a better understanding.


End file.
